


Going Home

by david_god_of_axolotls



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Ghost Of You Video, Alternate Universe - War, Character Death, Could be read as romantic, Gen, Gunshot Wounds, War, both of them die in the end, everyone dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:28:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29857404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/david_god_of_axolotls/pseuds/david_god_of_axolotls
Summary: There is beauty everywhere, even in death. And they might meet again. Someday.Someday.





	Going Home

The sky is blue as they lie there, dying. 

It has been a few hours since Gerard was first shot. Twice in the leg, and then a third time in his shoulder. He had managed to crawl to a crater and shelter from the hail of bullets coming from above. Just in time, as well - if he’d fallen to the ground a few seconds later, he would have been caught in the blast of yet another bomb. But the crater had sheltered him a little, and the biggest effect the bomb had on his was dropping more dirt on his hair. 

The grey-green-white of his shirt and uniform are stained with drying blood now, a trail dripping from the corner of his mouth. He knows very well that he is dying, but at least he won’t be dying alone. There’s someone here with him. A friend, although they only met a few weeks ago. And his brother lies not too far away, although he will never be able to move to sit with Gerard. 

He’s… sleeping, now. Just sleeping. 

Gerard feels a sort of pressure on his chest, a great weight pressing down on him and choking him from the inside out. He doesn’t really care anymore, just wants to stay alive long enough to feel the rays of the sun on his face a little longer. 

Another lies next to him, propped up against the edge of the crater. Frank doesn’t look as bad as Gerard does. The wounds run deeper, however, and carve a harsher path through his body. A curling scar winds up his cheek from years before, years of playing pretend and dreaming of being a soldier. An accident as a child that should really have deterred him from the war gave him that scar, a plastic gun with a not-so-plastic knife attached to the tip. His body is bruised and broken from years of illness and war, and it took just one little push to send him ricocheting towards the end. 

Debris had struck him in the back a few minutes after Gerard hid in the crater. It had knocked him face-first into the ground and stolen consciousness from him, and he awoke later to find he couldn’t move his legs. Blood is now smeared across the back of his jacket, but you can’t see that. He is smiling weakly as Gerard’s breathing steadies next to him. 

“Do you -” Frank starts to say something, but a wave of coughing takes the words from his mouth as blood spatters from his lips. “Hnn - do you think - think we’ll -” 

“We’ll be okay,” Gerard says quietly. “I promise.” 

Frank’s hat is covering his eyes slightly, fallen forward and making it almost impossible for Gerard to see him properly. Everything is hazy now, anyway. Not much time left. 

They met first in the truck, on the way to the barracks, and then again in the boat on the way to the battlefield. Two people from two completely different places, on their way to fight for that inevitable final destiny. Only a few words exchanged at first; a solemn greeting, a little small talk, and then nothing at all. Gerard had been with his brother at the time as well, and they were both a little preoccupied. But those few words stuck with them both. In the barracks, they talked a little more, then a lot more, and then they wouldn’t stop talking. 

“You… promise?” 

Gerard closes his eyes. “I promise.” 

He had seen Mikey die only minutes before he was shot. A barrage of bullets and bombs had flown through the air towards them all - that was when both sides realised that there would be no survivors, Gerard thinks now. A desperate lunge towards his dying brother as his chest bled red, being held back by another. No time for grief. 

He can see the hazy body now, a few feet away. 

“We’re going to - to die, aren’t we?” Frank coughs out weakly. Gerard almost doesn’t hear him - everything is buzzing with a strange grey hum. He turns his head and smiles. 

“No, of course we aren’t. Someone’s going to find us any minute now, okay? And we’ll go home again and see everyone we missed, and this will all be like a bad dream.” 

The false hope of survival makes Frank want to laugh. 

“And - and what’ll they do to fix us up?” he asks, if only to keep his mind off of the pain in his body. 

“They’ll stitch me up again, and give me a new arm,” Gerard says dreamily. His shoulder is mangled from the gunshot wound, and he knows somewhere in his foggy mind that if he makes it out he’ll have to lose it. “And they’ll give you robot legs and - and metal bones, like Wolverine, ‘cept it won’t hurt as much.” 

“That would be awesome, wouldn’t it?” 

“Yeah…” 

The pain in Frank’s back dulls suddenly, like it’s being replaced with radio static. The edges of his vision start to blur. 

“I don’t want to die,” he whispers, voice cracking. “I don’t want to die here.” 

“You won’t. I swear.” The sky is blue, so blue, above him. He takes a shaky breath. “We’re both being rescued, see, and we’re riding in this great helicopter, and we can see the whole world from up there. And we’re going to the hospital, and they’re fixing us up, and soon we can go home and you can meet your parents again and I’ll see ma and pa and - and Mikey’ll be there, ‘cause they’ll fix him too - and we’ll be super rich and famous one day and have a show on TV, and write books an’ have our own islands, and everything will be fine.” 

“Everything will be fine?” 

“Yeah… yeah.” 

Silence falls. Birds cry mournfully above. There are footsteps, but they’re so far away. Everything seems still and quiet and peaceful. 

“It’s my birthday today,” Frank says, almost to himself. 

“Happy birthday.” 

“Thank you.” 

The sun is setting behind them, although they can’t see it. The mist drifts lazily off of the battlefield and leaves the crater visible for whoever might come to find them. It’s too late, of course. 

When the others come to find the bodies, they’ll see three close together. One lying on the ground as if he’s asleep, and the other two sitting against a dirt wall, leaning into one another. Twin ghostly smiles still on their faces. 


End file.
